Improvement in locks and latches



E. "R, TowNE.

LOCKS AND LATCHES. No.`180,287. Patented July 25,1876.

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HENRY R. TOWNE, OF STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR'TO THE YALE LOCK MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN LQCKS AND LATCHES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 180,287, dated July 25, 1876; application led May 12, 1876. V

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, HENRY R. ToWNE, of Stamford, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Locks and Latches,as

e fully set forth in the following specification.

My invention has t'or its object to provide a mechanism which will operate with a minimum of frictlon and with a uniform action under all circumstances, and which will enable the thumb-levers passing through the door to be set so as to operate close to the rear edge.

l is a plan of myl improved combined lock and latch with the cap removed. Fig. 2 is a section of the same on the line 1 l ofFig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevation, partly in section, on the line 2 2 of Fig. l, to a reduced scale of the edge of the door having my lock mortised therein, and illustratingthe action ofthe thumb-levers upon the latch-bolt mechanism.

A is the case of the-lock; B, the ordinary latch-bolt, and C the dead-bolt. D is a slide, adapted at its lower edge to be acted on by the thumb-levers, and guided in its movement by the link E and bell-crank F, which also acts as alink, turnin gon suitable pivots, and constituting a partial parallel motion. The long arm of the bell-crank F engages with the stump b on the bolt B, to retract it when the slide D is elevated, and the bolt B, being provided with one oi' these stumps on each ot' its sides, can readily be reversed. The deadbolt C is controlled by its key acting through the escutcheon G, and for this purpose I prefer to use tlfe well-known Yale pin-lock, the key mechanism of which is entirely contained within the escutcheon or tumbler-case G. I provide two of these escutcheons, so that the lock may be operated from either side of the door, and they are threaded on their exterior circumferences, so that they may be screwed in to suitable apertures iu the case A. To se cure them in position, and to prevent the unscrewing of the escutcheons from the outside ofthe door, I make use of the slide or set H, which is controlled by means of the screw J passing through the face of the lock, and inaccessible when the door is closed. The screw J passes through the post K, and is longitudinally secured therein by means of a pin engaging with a groove in the screw. The inner end ofthe screw J is threaded to engage with a hole tapped in the slide-set H, so that the rotation of the screw will move the set H in and out, as may be desired. This sliding set His provided with two projecting points or teeth, It h, which slide in guides formed in the case A, and which engage with suitable notches or recesses g g,'formed on the opposite sides of the escutcheon G, and -thus prevent the unscrewin g of the escutcheon, except when the slide H is withdrawn from engagement with the recess g.

The lock being mortised into a door, and the ordinary lever-handles L L, as shown in Fig. 3, being suitably attached to the door, the depression of the outer end of these handles by the thumb or finger will cause their inner ends to be elevated, and these, ac ting on the lower edge of the slide D, will cause the latter to move upward, and, acting through the crank F, to retract the latch-bolt B. The two arms of the crank F being of unequal length, it will be seen that what is termed an easy spring action77 is secured.

Locks of this class are commonly used on glass doors, the lock-rail or stile of which is necessarily narrow, and it will be seen that my mode of construction is such that with a lockcase of less than the ordinary depth I am enabled to set the thumb-levers and handles to which they may be attached at a point almost as far distant from the edge of the door as the depth of the lock-case, the action of the slide D being the same whenever the levers L L may act upon it.

Having thus described'my invention, what I claim, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, substantially as set forth, of the bolt, the slide or plate moving l at a right angle thereto, and the pivotal links for guiding said slide, the combination being' such that vertical motion of the slide shall cause a simultaneous horizontal motion ofthe bolt.

2. InaJ mortise-lock, the mechanism of which to be operated upon by the key is contained within one or two separate tumbler-cases or escutcheonsdapted to be secured to the lockcase after the latter has been xnortised into the door, a set or slide contained Within said lockcase, and controllable only when the door is open, which set or slide is adapted to suitztbl y engage with either one or both of said escutcheons inserted through either or both sides of the door, and to prevent the Withdrawal of said escutcheons from the lock-case.

3. The combination, substantially as set Ior both sides of the case of a mortise-lock.

In testimony WhereofI have hereunto subscribed my name.

HENRY R. TOWNE.

Witnesses:

" H. I. EARNEST,

E, G. DAVIDSON. 

